Contrasting HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) and Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Upwork and HireQuest”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Upwork	$787.28 million	1.32	$115.43 million	$0.77	10.81
HireQuest	$30.15 million	7.50	$6.33 million	$0.57	28.53

Upwork has higher revenue and earnings than HireQuest. Upwork is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HireQuest, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.7% of Upwork shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.0% of HireQuest shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.9% of Upwork shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 42.9% of HireQuest shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Upwork has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HireQuest has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Upwork and HireQuest, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Upwork	1	9	3	0	2.15
HireQuest	0	1	2	0	2.67

Upwork presently has a consensus price target of $13.05, indicating a potential upside of 56.85%. HireQuest has a consensus price target of $19.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.85%. Given Upwork’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Upwork is more favorable than HireQuest.

Profitability

This table compares Upwork and HireQuest’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Upwork	12.94%	16.70%	7.94%
HireQuest	27.06%	16.35%	12.11%

About Upwork

Upwork Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a work marketplace that connects businesses with various independent professionals and agencies in the United States, India, the Philippines, and internationally. The company’s work marketplace provides access to talent with various skills across a range of categories, including administrative support, sales and marketing, design and creative, and customer service, as well as web, mobile, and software development. Its work marketplace also enables clients to streamline workflows, such as talent sourcing, outreach, and contracting. The company’s work marketplace offers access to various functionalities for remote engagements with talent, including communication and collaboration, ability to receive talent invoices through their work marketplace, and payment protection. Its marketplace offerings include Upwork Payroll and Upwork Enterprise, as well as managed and escrow services. The company was formerly known as Elance-oDesk, Inc. and changed its name to Upwork Inc. in May 2015. Upwork Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc. provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries. The company provides its services under the HireQuest Direct, HireQuest, SNelling, DriverQuest, HireQuest Health, Northbound Executive Search, and MRI trade names. It serves construction, recycling, warehousing, logistics, auctioneering, manufacturing, hospitality, landscaping, and retail industries, as well as dental practices. HireQuest, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Goose Creek, South Carolina.